Baltimore 'toilet bomber' acquitted

The mysterious "toilet bomb case" which has held the city of Baltimore gripped since February has reached its close, as a jury found Duane Gerald Davis Senior not guilty of leaving a fake exploding toilet outside a courthouse.

Davis was charged by local law last February after depositing a modified lavatory "decorated with newspaper clippings, an electronic transmitter and a cellphone" outside the city's County Courthouse, reports the Baltimore Sun.

Responding plods naturally decided that the terrifying electronics-enhanced dunny must be packed with a deadly cargo of explosives, rigged for remote detonation by phone or radio signal. The area was evacuated and robots sent in, followed up by trained explosives sniffer dogs. Hundreds of bystanders watched from a distance, doubtless fearing the start of a deadly string of detonating-toilet porcelain blast outrages across the city.

Only once the tin cops and their canine chums had reported back did it become clear that in fact the Toilet of Terror contained no explosives. Cops then charged Davis with a bomb hoax, still a serious matter.

However the Sun reports that the case was finally thrown out last week, with Davis' lawyer stating that the judge had advised prosecutors that they had failed to meet their burden of proof.

Davis reportedly described the lavatorial escapade as "an exercise of his rights to protest and free speech". ®